Until Death Do Us Part? (Completed)

Chapter Nine: Guide

After a lot of talking and threatening, Alex finally managed to convince Dy that yes, he was going to bring me along with him tonight and that yes, he was not lying just to make him shut up (though, secretly, I suspected he was, but was smart enough to keep my opinions to myself), and yes, we were not going to be late.

After that, the kid bobbled down the road cheerfully, disappearing between the mass of hundreds of bodies, but not before reminding me, yet again, to not forget coming along on their little 'adventure' with him and Alex tonight.

"Don't worry, I'll come and get you if he gives you the slip," Dy spoke cheerfully, just moments before his abrupt departure. "You can't miss out on all the fun just because Alex is in one of his moods!" Either he didn't see the dark look Alex cast him on that one, or chose to ignore it.

After Dy left, I continued to stare at the sidewalk ahead, as though doing so would bring him back, and was surprised to find that I actually missed the little guy's company and mindless chatter, even though I'd probably known him for only fifteen minutes.

Ever since I was a kid, I'd been pretty good at reading and judging people, and knew instinctively that Dy was one of those rare persons in the world who were truly and really good. I realized that he reminded me a lot of Suri, and the way she'd always looked at the positives in a person, ignoring all the negatives, and had a feeling that if the two of them ever met, they would get along really well.

A second later, I realized that Suri could never meet Dy, because he, just like me, was dead and Suri alive. The thought itself wiped out the smile which had started to form on the corners of my lips and I wondered what Dy had done—or someone had done to him—for him to be stuck in the In-Between and not move on to whatever waited for him in the afterlife.

I wondered what I had done to be stuck here, period.

The thought itself brought along a flood of questions, and I had to physically bite my lips to hold myself from asking them to Alex all at once, because;

a. He wouldn't like it.

b. He'd just get annoyed and leave me alone again, and trust me when I say that it was one thing I wanted to avoid at all costs.

"So," I begun after a second's pause, deciding that I'd better use a causal approach, instead of demanding all the answers at once. "He seems like a good guy, doesn't he?"

Alex dragged his gaze away from the sidewalk, as though he missed Dy's company too and was wishing that he'd apparate in front of us out of thin air. To my surprise, his expressions were unusually soft. "Who, Dy?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. He's a good kid." A note of melancholy entered Alex's tone, and I wondered if his thoughts had wandered to the same place as mine.

I shook my head, clearing all the thoughts, and tried to focus on the task in hand. "So, you remember before, when you said that your job for today would be over?"